Tips for Getting Through a Breakup

If you’re like me or the significant majority of the population, you’ve gone through, are going through or will go through a breakup at some point in your life. Something came up in my personal life over the last couple days that reminded me of how important it is to take care of yourself during this time even when all you may feel like doing is curling into bed and sleeping through the hurt. And although a healthy amount of sleep is not discouraged, through my experiences I have realized what works and what does not work for me when dealing with a new heartbreak. I hope this might help someone out there!

Do new things – If you’ve been through a breakup before you know that it’s easy to get caught off guard when you come across a situation that reminds you of your ex. Trying new things decreases the chance that this will happen and you’ll be distracted while learning!

Do not listen to sad/slow music – This may seem pretty obvious but listening to slow, sad songs is always gonna make you feel worse. Switch them off as soon as they come on to avoid an unneeded sob session.

Do not jump immediately back into a “friendship” with them – Give yourself enough time to be happy on your own before you rely on them for happiness again. Otherwise one of you may still have feelings for the other and will stand the chance of getting hurt again when you realize that they only want to be friends and nothing more.

Eat – When you’re feeling sad sometimes your stomach feels like it’s a giant knot which makes eating can become more of a chore than it should be. It’s important to push yourself to eat something in order to keep yourself from feeling weaker than you may already feel.

Exercise – This may be the LAST thing that some people want to do after a breakup but exercising, especially with a group, requires you to focus on something other than your ex. The more intense the exercise, the more focus required to get through it, the less time to focus on your breakup.

Watch a show – Mad Men, Greek, Lost, Downtown Abbey – Each one of these shows represents the end of a relationship for me. If you can’t help but obsess about your ex, sometimes the only thing you can do is give your heart and brain a break in the form of Netflix.

Set aside time to be upset – Sometimes you need to get a good cry out of your system and there is nothing wrong with that. Distracting yourself by staying engaged in other activities is extremely important, but so is allowing yourself time to think about and come to terms with your breakup. Just don’t allow yourself too much time to feel this way.

Don’t be alone – During a time when you’re already feeling especially alone, it’s really important that you have other people that care about you around. Having people around you to either comfort or distract you is probably the BEST remedy for feeling less alone.